Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-09-02
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject. "The Facts Proved,

IExTi wa are tCi;ReSSes Acts xv., &
In the days of George Stephenson, the per-
Iecter or the locomotive engine, the scientists
proved conclusively that a railway train
could never be driven by steam power sue
csSsiully and without peril; but the rushing
express tram from Liverpool to Edinburgh,
and from Edinburgh to London, have made
an the nation witnesses of the splendid
achievement Machinists and navieatofs
proved conclusively that q Steamer could ney-
er cross the Atlantic ocean; but no sooner had
thoy successfully proved the impossibility of
sdch an undertaking than the work was done,
ana the passengers on the Cunard and the In
man and tho National and the White Star
lines are witnesses. There went up guffaw
OF wise laughter at Professor Morse's urop5.
sition to make the lightning of heaven his err
rand boy, and it was proved conclasively
That the thing could never be done; but now
all the news of the wide world by Associated
fress, Put IN your hands every morning and
ulght, has made all nations witnesses.
so IN the time OF Christ it was proved con-
clusively that it was impossible fer hiih to
rise from the dead. It was shown logically
that when he was dead he was dead, and the
heart and the liver and the lungs having
ceased to perform their offices, the limbs
would be rigid beyond all power of friction
or arousal. They showed it to be an absolute
absurdity that the dead Christ should ever
get up alive; but no sooner had they proved
this than the dead Christ arose, and the dis
Ciples beheld him. heard his voice and talked
with him, and they took the witness stand to
prove that to be true which the wisoacres of
the day had proved to be impossible; the
record OF the experiment and OF the teSti-
mony is in the text: Him hath God raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses
Now, let me play the skeptic for moment.
There is no Cod" says the skeptic, for |
have never seen Him with my physical eye
sight. Your Bible is pack of contradictions
There never was a miracle. Lazarus was not
raised from the dead and the water was
never turned into wina. Your religion is an i'm
position on the credulity of the ages There
IS an aged man moving in that pew as though
he would like to respond. Here are hundreds
of people with faces little flushed at these
announcements, and all through this house
there is a suppressed feeling which would like
to speak out in behalf Of the truth of our
glorious Christianity, as in the days Of the
text crying out: 1--WE are witneSseSr'
The fact is, that If this world is ever
brought to God, it will not be through argli-
ment, but through testimony You might
cover the whole earth with apologies for
Christianity and learned treatiSes in defense
OF religlon-you would not convert soul.
Lectures on the harmony between science and
religion are beautiful mental discipline, but
have never saved a soul, and never will savea
soul. Put a man OF the world and a man of
the church against each other and the man of
the world will in all probability get the
triumph. There are thousand things in our
religion that seem illogical to the world, and
always will seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith not
logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith, not pro-
fundity; faith, not scholastic exploration
But then in order to have faith, we must
have testimony, and il 500 men, or 900 men,
or $40 600 men, or 100000 men get up and
tell me that they have felt the religion of
Jesus Christ joy, comfort help an in
spiration, am bound as a fair minded man
to accept their testimony. want Just now
to put before you three propositions. the
truth of which think this audience will at
test with overwhelming unanimity.
The first proposition is We are witnesses
that the religion of Christ is able to convert
q soul.
The Gospel may have had hard time to
conquer us, wemay have fought it back but
we were vanQuished, You say conversion is
only an imaginary thing. We know better.
1--WE are witnesses" There never was SO
great change in our heart and life on any
other subject as this. People laughed at
the missionaries in Madagascar because they
preached ten years without one convert; but
there are SO, 900 converts in Madagascar to-
day. People laughed at DR.. Judson, the Bap-
tist missionary, because he kept on preaching
in Burmah five years without a single CON
vert; but there are 900 Baptists in Burmah
to-day. People laughed at DR.. Morrison, in
China, for preaching there seven years with
out single conversion; but there are 5000
Christians in China today. People laughed
at the missionaries for preaching at Tahiti
for fifteen years without a single conversion,
and at the missionaries for preaching in Ben
gal seventeen years without q single CONVEX
sion; yet i'll all those lands there are multi
tudeS of Christians to-day.
But why go so far to find evidences of the
Gospels power to save a soul! 1--WE are wit
nesses We were so proud that no man
could have humbled us; we were so hard that
no earthly power could have melted us;
angels of God were all around about us, they
could not overcome us; but one day, perhaps
at Methodist anxious seat, or at Preshy-
terian catechetical lecture, or at burial, or
on horseback, power seized U.s. and made us
get down, and made us tremble and made us
kneel, and made us cry for mercy, and we
tried to wrench ourselves away from the
grasp, but we could not. 1t flung us flat. and
when we arose we were as much changed as
Gourgls, the heathen, who went into PRAYER
meeting with dagger and a gun to disturb
the meeting and destroy it, but the next day
was found crying: "Oh, my great sins OH
my great Saviourl" and for eleven years
preached the gospel of Christ to his fellow
nountaineers, the last words on his dying
lips being Free gracer Oh, it was fres
grace
There is man who was for ten years
hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had
sent down its roots around the palate and
the tongue, and on down until they were
ilterlinked with the vitals of the body,
mind and soul but he has not taken
any stimulants for two years. What did
that! Not temperance societies Not pro-
hibitorv laws. Not moral suasion. Conver-
sion did it. "Why," said one upon whom
the great change had come, "sir, feel just
as though were somebody else"
There is a sea captain who swore all the
way from New York to Havana, and from
Havana to San Francisco, and when he was
in port he was worse than when he was on
the sea. What power was it that washed his
tongue clean of profanities and made him
psalm singer! Conversion by the Holy Spirit.
There are thousands of people in this house
tonight who are no more what they once
were than a waterliy is nightshade, or
morning lark is q vulture, or day is night.
Now, if / should demand that all those
people in this house who have felt the con-
verting power of religion should rise, so far
from being ashamed, they would spring to
their feet with more alacrity than they ever
sprang to the dance, the tears mingling with
their exhilaration as they cried; 1--WE are
witnesses" And if they tried to sing the old
Gospel hymn they would break down with
emotion by the time they got to the second
line:
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend2
MOI When blush be this my shame.
That no more revere his name.
Again | remark that 1--WE are witnesses" of
Che Gospels power to comfort.
When man has trouble the world comes
In and says: "Now get your mind off this; go
out and breathe the fresh air; plunge deeper
into business" What poor advice. Get
your mind off Of It'll when everything is up
turned with the bereavement and everything
reminds you of what you have lost Get
your mind off of It'll They might as well ad-
wise you to stop thinking. You cannot stop
thinking, and you cannot stop thinking in
tbat diraction Taya a walk in the fresh